Convenience Store Criminal
by Martial Arts Master
Summary: Yolei's running her dad's convenience store for a day, and Cody checks to see how she's doing. But then a criminal tries to rob the store, and Cody gets a nasty surprise when he finds out that this criminal is the very same one who killed his father...Ple


Convenience Store Criminal  
by Martial Arts Master  
Digimon and all related characters copyrighted by TV Tokyo, Fox Kids, Saban, and Bandai. This takes place before the Black Wargreymon episodes, as I can't find a way to fit it in afterwards. I wrote this story because Cody's my favorite Season 02 character. The story will begin now.  
  
***  
  
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and Davis, Cody, TK, and Kari were having a picnic along with their Digimon.  
"I wonder where Yolei is," Kari said.  
"Ah, after that Silphymon incident you told me about, she's probably somewhere gloating that she can now active DNA Digivolving," Davis said. "Yolei's not the type of person who gloats," Kari said.  
"Exactly what I was thinking," Davis said immediately, not wanting to offend Kari as usual.  
"Yolei called me earlier today and she said that her parents had decided to help her become responsible by letting her run the store for a day," TK said.  
"Do you think she can do it?" Cody asked.  
"Of course she can," Gatomon said. "If she's responsible enough to help me and Aquilamon DNA Digivolve into Silphymon, then she should be responsible enough to run her dad's convenience store." "Yeah, Gatomon's right," Demiveemon said.  
"Personally, I think almost makes Yolei as mature as you, Cody," Upamon said.  
"I'm not that mature," Cody said, almost sounding embarassed.  
"Yeah, I'm a lot more mature than Cody is," Davis said. "After all, I AM older than he is."  
"But age doesn't necessarily determine maturity," Kari said.  
"Of course, Cody's personality has to do with it, too," Davis said immediately, again changing his viewpoint according to Kari's, thanks to his crush on her.  
"Yeah, Cody's much more mature than YOU are, Davis," Upamon said loyally.  
"Cody's maturity aside, maybe one of us should go check on Yolei and see how she's doing," TK said.  
"Good idea," Patamon said.  
"I'll go," Davis said. _After all_, he thought, _if I go check on a friend, Kari'll think I'm a lot more mature than Cody is_. "I think maybe I should go," Cody said. "After all, logically speaking, Yolei might get offended if any one of you went. She might think that _you_ didn't think she could do a good job. But if I went, since she thinks I'm just a kid, there's no way she'll get offended."  
"That makes sense," Kari said.  
"Of course it makes sense when logic is involved," Davis said immediately.  
"Yeah, I'm surprised," TK said. "I didn't know you were that smart."  
Cody decided to take that as a compliment. He put Upamon in his backpack and went to Yolei's father's convience store.  
  
Cody went into the convenience store just in time to see a customer leave with a package of meat.  
"Oh hi Cody," Yolei said. She was behind the counter.  
"Hello Yolei," Cody said. "How's business?"  
"Business is going well!" Yolei said, beaming. "At this rate my dad'll be so proud of me!"  
"Is that the only reason you're running this store for today?" Cody asked.  
"No, it's also because I wanna help people," Yolei said.  
"Oh," Cody said, nodding.  
A large man came. He had an overcoat on, and he wore a large hat. He walked up to the counter.  
"Yes sir, how can I help you?" Yolei said cheerfully.  
The large man's hand withdrew into his overcoat.  
"Sir, you don't need to pay until you tell me what you want," Yolei said.  
The large man ignored her. He took his hand out of the overcoat, but it wasn't money he was holding. It was a Magnum .38 gun. Before either Cody or Yolei could do anything, the large man fired a couple of shots into the air. Everyone but Cody and Yolei quickly left the store screaming.  
"Give me all your money, and fast!" the large man shouted.  
"Oh no!" Yolei said, gasping.  
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Cody asked angrily, trying to take the gun away from the man.  
"Be quiet, stupid kid!" the large man said, whacking Cody in the stomach with the gun. Cody doubled over, the wind knocked out of him.  
"Hey, you can't do that!" Yolei said, out of worry for Cody.  
Upamon was going to come out of the bag and attack the man for hurting his partner, but then he realized that such an action would let the large criminal learn about Digimon.  
"Now give me all the money in the register or I'll blow your brains out!" the man commanded.  
Whimpering, Yolei opened the cash register.  
"Oh man, my first time running the convenience store and it'll be my last 'cause dad'll be mad at me getting robbed!" Yolei muttered to herself in a panicked voice.  
The criminal overheard.  
"Oh, BOO-HOO," the criminal said sarcastically. "I'm SO sorry. Not! NOW GIVE ME YOUR MONEY!"  
Yolei cowered for a moment. The criminal pointed the gun at her head threateningly.  
"Hey, leave her alone!" Cody said, having recovered from the earlier blow.  
"Shut up," the criminal said, pointing his gun at Cody. Suddenly there was a flash of recognition on his face.  
"You're Mr. Hida's son!" the criminal said.  
"Yeah, so?" Cody asked.  
"I swore I'd kill ALL the Hidas except the mother, so this here's a big opportunity for me," the criminal said.  
Cody realized what he meant.  
"YOU!" Cody said angrily, raising his voice, which was rare for him. "You're the one who killed my father!"  
"Killed your father?" Yolei asked in amazement.  
"My father was a police officer," Cody explained. "He was very good at his job, but one day he was shot while trying to apprehend the criminal."  
Cody could barely hold back tears as he went on.  
"My father died from the wound, and me and my mother didn't learn of it until later," he continued. "But now I found out that YOU killed him!"  
Cody said this last part to the criminal.  
Cody could feel his backpack getting moist. Was Upamon CRYING? But Cody had no time to think of that now.  
"Yes, I did kill him," the criminal said. "And here is why."  
The criminal cleared his throat and began.  
"I was a street kid, trying to make a living," the criminal said. "That involved robberies, and one day that nosey goody-goody Mr. Hida almost caught me."  
"I held up a bank, but the teller managed to hit the silent alarm without my knowing it," the criminal continued. "It was the heist of the century. There were LOADS of money in that bank. I would have lived like a king for years."  
Then the criminal's expression hardened.  
"After the teller hit the silent alarm, it brought a lone police officer," the criminal continued. "That officer was Mr. Hida, having taken the job alone, probably in hopes of some promotion. He caught me trying to escape from the bank, and I had to shoot him in the arteries to get away."  
"But by unfortunate coincidence, someone was passing by and saw the whole thing," the criminal continued. "He identified me, and I had to hide out in this city for YEARS. I swore then that I would kill his son as revenge for forcing this life on me."  
"But it was YOUR fault for robbing the bank!" Cody said angrily. "And why didn't you wanna kill my mother, too? That logically makes no sense."  
"Ooh, look at the mature kid using logic," the criminal said sarcastically. Yolei, meanwhile, was getting angry. How dare this criminal mock Cody's maturity? Yolei could remember times when Cody was more mature than HER! Now she knew why Cody had to grow up so fast.  
"Well, the reason was that I don't kill women," the criminal said.  
"And what's wrong with killing women as opposed to men?" Yolei asked angrily.  
"Women are weaker," the criminal said. His tone of voice would have been the same had he been saying that the sky was blue. It was a matter-of-fact tone of voice, and it ticked Yolei off.  
"Then you're a sexist pig!" Yolei said.  
"You should be glad I'm not going to kill YOU," the criminal said.  
The criminal then turned back to Cody.  
"YOU, on the other hand, should say your prayers," the criminal said.  
Cody stood his ground. He was going to die anyway, so why not do it with some dignity.  
"You're not afraid," the criminal said. "You're either very mature or very stupid. Either way, you're gonna die just like your father did."  
The criminal slowly started squeezing the trigger.  
Suddenly something banged the criminal over the head. The criminal's eyes bugged out in surprise, and he soon fell unconscious. Cody looked past him and saw Yolei holding a banged-up cash register. Obviously she was the one who had used the cash register to knock the criminal unconscious while he was distracted.  
"Well, my parents will probably be mad at me for breaking the cash register, but helping to stop a criminal should make up for it," she said, smiling.  
  
Later Cody was back at his house. Yolei had punched the silent alarm, and the criminal was hauled away by the police, who had stopped to tell Cody that they had respected his father. Yolei had gotten some praise from her parents, and Cody had been questioned endlessly about the encounter by his friends. Now he was relieved to be back home, the experience over. Upamon was on the floor, across from him.  
"But Cody, why didn't you TELL me your father had died?" Upamon said, near tears. "I would have done something. I certainly wouldn't have let you suffer mentally like you must have been doing all this time."  
"I had to be mature," Cody says. "With my father dead, and only my mother living with me, I'm the 'man of the house.'"  
"You don't have to act THAT mature," Upamon said. "You could have told me. You know I would have done something to comfort you."  
"Had I let you comfort me, that logically would mean that I would be using you as a crutch for my emotional problems," Cody said. Then he thought of something else.  
"By the way, were you CRYING back in the store?" Cody asked.  
"Yeah...it's so sad that your father's dead," Upamon replied. "Look, let me tell you something. If you need someone to talk to about your problems, look no further than right here."  
And Upamon tried to point to himself, but then remembered that as Upamon he had no upper appendages.  
"Ok," Cody said, sighing. "I'll try."  
  
The End  
  
***  
  
E-mail all questions and comments to bleifer@msn.com. 


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